US$ price soars to VND18,500/US$1
16:49' 05/06/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The dollar price has officially surpassed the VND18,000/US$1 threshold, selling at VND18,500/US$1,prompting further gold price increases after the falls following the world’s price decreases.
The foreign currency market this morning saw another peak of the price increase wave with the selling price hitting $18,500/US$1.
Quoc Trinh Gold and Foreign Exchange Shop on Ha Trung street in Hanoi this morning quoted the prices of VND17,900 (purchasing) and VND18,200/US$1. Meanwhile, Phu Quy Gold Shop on Tran Nhan Tong street in Hanoi offered the prices of VND18,000 and VND18,500/US$1, respectively. The highest peak was VND400/US$1 higher than the previous day’s level.
Meanwhile, the exchange rate on the interbank market announced by the State Bank of Vietnam this morning also saw another increase of VND10/US$1 over yesterday morning, at VND16,117/US41.
Dr Cao Sy Kiem, former Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, has attributed the dollar’s dramatic price increases recently to speculation. Meanwhile, people themselves have been making the situation worse as they have been rushing to buy dollars to hoard up for fear that the prices will go up further. Kiem has advised people not to panic about the price increases, as the black market does not represent Vietnam’s foreign currency market.
At the government’s annual press conference on June 2, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Dong Tien affirmed that the government’s policy is to stabilise the VND’s value, and that the VND will not go up or down by more than 2% compared to 2007.
Tien said that people should be cautious with deals on the black market, and rely on the official information provided by state agencies.
The sharp dollar price increases have led gold prices to increase by nearly VND50,000/tael over yesterday, despite the continued falls of the world’s gold prices in the last two consecutive trading sessions.
SJC Gold in Hanoi is now being offered at VND18.28-VND18.38mil/tael, while Bao Tin Minh Chau is offering gold for VND18.2-18.4mil/tael.
On the ACB gold trading floor, gold is being traded at VND18.34mil/tael with 192,000 taels of gold successfully transacted this morning, worth VND3,515bil.
Banks are continuing to raise US$ deposit interest rates. An Binh Bank, for example, is now offering the interest rate of 7.6% at the highest, becoming the bank that offers the highest rate now in the market.
The dollar price has been increasing sharply, hitting the highest peak in the last three weeks. At 11 am this morning, in Asia’s market, the US$ was traded at US$1.5835/EUR1.
(Source: Dan tri, VietNamNet)
